Every year, the stretch between June 20 and July 5 holds a quiet, aching weight. June 20 was my dad’s birthday. He died just two weeks later, on July 5. The span between those dates always feels suspended in time—sunlit and sticky, marked by memory. Even when I’m not thinking about him directly, my body knows.

I landed back in Taiwan this week, almost exactly a year since I was last here. I was raw then, from the fresh wound of separation with my former partner. That summer, grief moved in like the rain that tips from the ever-gray sky in June in Taipei, waking me at 3 a.m. sharp. I learned later from my therapist that grief has a time zone. Between 3 and 5 a…

On May 21, 1981 at 11:57am in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I was born under an almost full moon. My parents’ firstborn and ‘just in time for lunch.’ I was brought back from the hospital, all 8 pounds, 10 ounces, to the Cape Cod on Whipporwill Drive, my nursery freshly peach with little stenciled white bunnies. I didn’t cry a lot, my eyes were big, and I lov…

I was somewhere between BWI airport and my mother’s condo in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when the highway gave way to winding country roads.

Last week marked one year since everything changed. Since the moment when the shape of my relationship with my former partner shifted into something I couldn’t yet name.

This past weekend, I spent time in the desert with two of my closest friends. Turns out Joshua Tree is one of the most magical places I've ever been. We were lucky enough to be there at the new moon—no light pollution, just an endless stretch of daytime sky and nighttime stars. I wouldn't have thought of myself as a desert person given my love for water…

Embracing the Complexity of Our Stories.

In the classroom, I glanced across the table at my two children’s faces as the safety video played on the big screen. The throaty narration reviewed underwater hand gestures—silent signals to indicate distress, to call for help. Both kids watched, their gentle smiles and leaned-in postures making it clear: they weren’t afraid.

Last week, I was on a call with my business coach who’s supporting the creation of some future writing offerings, and she suggested that I broadly share my Substack via social media. My mind flitted on the idea of putting my writing “out there,” and a message came through with the fortitude of one of the afternoon storms we get in Colorado in the summer…